Icewater
Chapter 4: Ice and Fire
Disclaimer: I own nothing except a soon-to-be-empty bag of skittles and a bunny-shaped dog chewtoy (don't ask).
Review, please!
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Sakura stared, mouth hanging wide open.
We should turn back, warned Inner Sakura.
Since when have you been the voice of reason?
Oh, since forever.
Tch. Yeah, right!
Sakura slowly, almost fearfully, began swimming through the cold water beneath the Ice Ridges. She dropped a berry and continued, awed by the cool, white, glittering frozen liquid that was so peaceful yet so deadly.
Sakura momentarily forgot everything else except what was before her eyes as she swam, admiring how the moonlight bounced off the icebergs, making them a blinding white, and imagined seeing them from above the water.
They must be even more dazzling with the sun shining directly on them and no water to dilute the image, she mused. Her Inner agreed.
Definitely, it said. Let's go up and take a look!
Voice of reason? Sakura retorted dryly.
Ehh, but this is so cool! Come on, please?
No, she told herself, swimming deeper in, dropping a berry.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
No!
Yes!
No!
No.
Yes! Wait-Urgh!
Heehee!
Shut up, you!
A boom in the distance cut off her Inner's (no doubt scathing) reply.
Sakura glanced around fearfully.
"What was that?" she whispered aloud.
No idea, babe, no idea.
Sakura hesitantly swam forward again, seeing that the Ice Ridges ended ahead. She came out on the opposite side of them. She dropped a berry.
Boom!
Sakura nearly leapt out of her skin.
That was closer, she said.
Yeah, but still pretty far-off.
What should we do?
I don't know. Maybe go back to the ship-
Naruto!
Sakura took a moment, weighing her options.
I can go back to the ship and hope and pray we won't be found, she thought, or I can risk my life and go see what the heck is causing that sound.
Sakura strained her ears.
Boom!
THERE!
Sakura surged forward, her flipper flapping furiously in the water as she hurried towards the sound.
I can protect Naruto this way, she thought.
BOOM!
It was much louder, much nearer now. Sakura heard the whoosh of a water current and hopped on, riding ever closer to the sound.
She hopped off right before she heard another thunderous BOOM.
And this time, that wasn't all.
A flash of yellow sprouted into existence. Sakura yelped before realizing it was above the water, not below. It illuminated a dark figure...
Her eyes widened and she drew closer.
"A ship," she breathed.
Another BOOM! rumbled, slightly muted by the water, and she looked on in wonder as an orange brighter than Naruto's tail sprang to life above the surface, exploding into a shower of shooting stars that fizzled when they reached the water.
Sakura, her Inner said. Hey, Sakura, this is fam-
I wanna see this! Sakura told her alter ego, swimming forward and up. A real ship! Humans must be on it! She gasped. They must be making the colorful stars!
Wait, but Sakura, tha-
And Sakura broke through to the surface, splashing.
She shivered; the air was cold. A current - of wind, she supposed- whipped around her, blowing her pink hair into her face. She took a breath.
BOOM!
She screamed; it was so loud!
Or, at least, tried to scream; with a start, Sakura realized nothing but a hoarse gust of air escaped her mouth. Her eyes widening, she touched her mouth with her hands; she couldn't speak above water!
The shooting stars were as green as her eyes this time, and aptly distracted her.
They're so pretty, she thought, a lazy smile creeping onto her lips. Her eyes were drawn to the bright lights on board the ship.
Are they using fire? she wondered. Her Mother had described it as a warm, orange glow that could melt and burn and calm at the same time. I wanna see it, she thought. She dove back underwater, and came up by the bottom of the boat.
Sakura, bad idea, bad idea! squealed her Inner. It's a boat! A ship! Remember the p-
Oh, quit being a wuss and help me out! Sakura told her other self. Inner Sakura ground her jaw before 'hmph'ing and resignedly going on lookout duty.
Sakura chewed her lip as the humans sent up a deafening yellow star. She gazed up at the looming figure of the ship.
How was she going to get up to the deck, and more importantly, how was she going to do it unseen?
Her eyes alighted on the anchor thrown over the edge. She looked at her palms, assessed the situation, and came up with one conclusion: May as well give it a shot.
She swam over to it, put her hands on the cold metal, and pulled herself up.
With a large heave, she was nearly all out of the water, minus the bottom end of her flipper. The cold night air nipped her, chilling her to the bone, but she grit her teeth, curled her lower body around the chain, and heaved again. In this manner she slowly, tediously made her way to the deck. There was a border of wood right below the deck, encircling the ship as a decorative addition, and she reached it, scooting herself across the wooden surface easily enough. She shivered, putting her arms around her, rubbing her shoulders to get the blood flowing and relax her strained arm muscles.
She heard music. Harmonious sounds that she sort of recognized. Some were voices, and she recognized those, for merfolk produced the same sort of sounds when singing; but the instruments the humans used sounded unlike anything she had heard before. She took a deep breath of the night air and carefully slid herself up to rest her arms on the floor of the deck.
When she pulled herself up, her eyes did not alight on fire.
But they may as well have.
A laughing human with dark hair and darker eyes was what she saw. He wore clothes of the same creamy shade as white sands from Atlantica's dunes, and long night-black fabric rippled down his legs.
Her eyes widened to the size of saucers.
Legs!
They were everywhere, twirling and stomping about, tapping to the beat, covered in what had to be leather. And beneath the leather, she knew there were stubby finger-like objects called toes, five per leg, connected to a long sort of palm called a foot. She felt a flutter of something - a longing of some kind - in her chest, and her eyes were drawn back to the man who had laughed. He was smiling - no, that was no smile, but a smirk! - at someone who was talking to him, and he held a cup of some sort. He waved his hand dismissively, and then he drank a huge swig of whatever frothed around in his cup before taking his sleeve and swiping it across his mouth.
Bad manners, commented her Inner.
But look, Sakura said dreamily. A star of pink exploded behind her; it barely registered in her mind that it had come from the outpost at the top of the ship. Look at him... He's...
Sakura sat there for a long time, watching the man stand and drink and socialize, and eventually it registered to her that he was getting very, very drunk.
A party of some kind, she realized. They're having a party!
What, and the festivities didn't give it away?
Sakura waved her Inner's comment away dismissively. I was occupied, she told it.
Yeah, drooling.
What? What do you mean by th-!
"Attention everyone!"
Sakura's eyes snapped back to the boy. He stood on top of a little foot stool, his cup sloshing over as he turned to look at the sailors around him.
"I have to tell you all why I ordered for a party," he said, suddenly sober. "But first, an important matter to discuss! You all know the Treaty the Uchiha made with the Hyuga and Inuzuka has been going sour." A great murmur went through the men, and the boy continued. "It has been resolved!" Cheers erupted.
Sakura smiled a little.
At least it's peaceful somewhere, she thought.
"Aww, Sasuke, we don't care about that!" yelled a chubby man. Sakura knew he was also, like the boy, intoxicated.
Sasuke, she thought to herself; the name would probably roll off her tongue like honey if she could have said it. A handsome name for a handsome man, she mused dreamily.
"Yeah," said a calmer voice. "What about that Princess? That one from Sound!"
Sakura frowned. Sound. Why did that ring a bell...?
"Oh," said Sasuke, "Her. Yeah. NO."
Chuckles and cheers arose from the men. Then the boy with the ponytail who had asked groaned.
"Your Father's gonna have a cow," he moaned. "He thought you would finally get engaged. To her!" He shook his head when Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly. "Troublesome..."
"Whatever," replied Sasuke. "That's not important. What DOES matter," he said, smirking, "Is that it's my birthday!"
Cheers erupted and the boy commenced the party festivities again with a swig of his liquor, and Sakura giggled in spite of herself when he stumbled off his stool.
He's so cute, she thought. I wonder if we would get along...? She doubted it; their worlds did not mix, as her Mother's past had proven.
Sakura, lost in her thoughts, barely noticed the resuming booms of "stars" behind her. The night continued, trudging closer and closer to midnight, but the beer flowed freely on board and the food platters constantly piled and re-piled with delicious-smelling delicacies. Sakura watched, enraptured, as the boy Sasuke continued with the merriment and got drunker and drunker, his face turning red. Sakura laughed, a breathy, choking sound above water, absorbed in the moment.
"Sasuke looks like a red seaweeberry!" she said (or, rather, tried to say). Her fin thumped the side of the boat in her excitement.
And slowly, her smile faded as the sound on board slowly fell away at Sasuke's raised hand.
"Did I just hear..." asked Sasuke slowly, peering around the ship, "...something?"
The crew members guffawed and shook their heads, some waving hands dismissively.
"There's a party on board, Sasuke," said the ponytail boy. "That probably explains it."
Sasuke's eyes raked the deck.
"..."
Sakura felt her heart stop beating as his eyes stopped when they reached the part of the deck she was watching from.
His eyes flashed red.
Sakura froze, her heart beginning to pound rapidly in her chest.
"...Something's over..." Sasuke didn't finish his sentence as he slowly walked over to her. The crew had resumed their partying, but it was at least two times quieter than before.
Tap, tap, tap.
His leather-bound feet drew ever closer.
Tap, tap, tap.
His eyes met her green ones.
She did not wait to see why he suddenly stopped walking. She flung herself down.
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Sasuke ran to the railing, looking over the edge in time to see a green fin - one unlike anything he had ever seen before - splash into the water.
What kind of fish...? he thought. He shook his head, his eyes fading back to black. I'm seeing things. He looked at the cup in his hand and threw it away from him disgustedly. Not good.
He looked back to the water that was still rippling
from the fish's splash.
Interesting, he thought to himself before turning back to the party and plastering a fake grin on his face. Interesting.
Green, glittering eyes haunted him for the rest of the evening.
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Sakura, that was too close! screeched Inner Sakura. We could've been KILLED if Sasuke had ordered a harpoon after us!
You wuss, Sakura grumbled back. You didn't help me out there at all!
Well, you can't expect me to do EVERYTHING around here, Inner Sakura replied smugly.
You hardly do ANYTHING! Sakura retorted.
The water was warm compared to the windy air above, and Sakura sighed happily, enjoying the feeling of water surrounding her once more.
We should be getting back, she thought. Looking up once more to watch the reflection in the water of a blue star burst forth from the ship, she retreated to the icy waters of the Ice Ridge, intent on returning to her orange-finned companion.
We can tell him everything that happened! she thought excitedly, following her trail of berries. It'll be so cool to go watch the ship tomorrow evening with him!
Sakura, asked her alter ego incredulously, You're not seriously considering going BACK, are you?
I can't... NOT, she told it. The black eyes of Sasuke flitted across her mind. ...Just once more, I promise.
It's unsafe! cried her Inner. His eyes turned RED! Don't blame that on the lighting or the falling stars, Sakura! He can't be safe! You don't want what happened to Dad to happen to Na-
Don't you DARE go there, snapped Sakura angrily. The edge of the Ice Ridges was within her view now. They didn't kill ME, so they won't hurt HIM, okay?
Fine, but don't count on it, seethed her other half. We can trust no strangers out here. They're called the Outwaters for a REASON; they're dangerous for us because humans traverse them frequently! There's a reason we have the phrase 'Don't be a fish trapped in a net,' you know!
Sakura shrugged. I'm more worried about Orochimaru's net than a human's.
Orochimaru's net is full, warned Inner Sakura. But the humans is empty.
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AN: sorry about the short chapter, but I had to break it here because otherwise it would be suuuuuper long and I don't have the patience to scroll that far while writing, lol. Review, please! Thanks! Hope you enjoyed!
